Kimberly Blessing is a computer scientist, a Web developer, a standards evangelist, a feminist, and a geek. This is where she writes about life, technology, women's issues, and whatever else comes to mind.
Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
It’s amazing how many people believe that the above is already U.S. law. It isn’t — it’s Section 1 of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which was not, in fact, ratified in 1982. It’s now known as the Women’s Equality Amendment and is being reintroduced in Congress. Isn’t it time, already?!?
I’ll have more to say about other aspects of SXSW later, but I wanted to say that the Non-Developers to Open Source Acolytes: Tell Me Why I Care panel was the best panel I’ve ever been to at SXSW. The audience was diverse (about 50/50!) and engaged, and we had a discussion that even enlightened me about something I thought I knew quite a bit about.
Thank you, Elisa Camahort, for organizing such an interesting and engaging panel. Now I really want to attend BlogHer because I’m sure you organize a kick-ass conference.
It was also really wonderful to hear from Annalee Newitz (co-editor of the very awesome She’s Such a Geek), Dawn Foster, and my friend Erica Rios. Erica made poignant references to women’s involvement in creating technology and to the opportunities available to women via open source, which received a round of applause. Needless to say, that discussion needs to be continued.
Note to Hugh Forrest: Bring back Elisa as a moderator — or maybe as a keynote?! — and bring back these panelists to continue a discussion that brought everyone to the table!
Alrighty folks, it’s SXSW time.
Come to the WaSP Annual Meeting where we’ll tell you what we’ve been up to, and where we’ll be Takin’ it to the Street on Monday, March 12 at 5 PM.
My AOL pals are doing another “How to Convince Your Company” panel, this time on embracing mashup culture. And Arun is also doing a browser wars panel, and I honestly can’t think of anyone else who’d be better at leading such a discussion.
I was surprised to learn that PayPal is also getting involved in SXSW, by sponsoring an evening event: the PayPal SXSW Showdown. I’m going to meet the organizer later today and find out what it’s all about. If you want to attend, be sure to RSVP!
Other stuff I’m looking forward to…
If you see me, stop me and say hello!
Adapting to Web Standards: CSS and Ajax for Big Sites by Christopher Schmitt, Kimberly Blessing, et al.
